Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner: ‘I didn’t do anything wrong’

Lois Lerner exercises her Fifth Amendment right not to speak about the IRS targeting investigation before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on March 5, 2014.

Lerner speaks:Lois Lerner, the former IRS official at the center of the agency’s tea party-targeting scandal, is refusing to beg for forgiveness or recede into anonymity. She tells Politico in her first press interview since the scandal broke 16 months ago: “I didn’t do anything wrong.” Lerner says she’s proud of her career and the job she did for her country. Republicans insist otherwise, laying blame on her for the extra scrutiny the IRS put on conservative groups. Here’s some early reaction:

We want Michelle: Democratic candidates are turning to the White House for help and some star power as the midterm campaigns heat up. But as The Wall Street Journal reports, it’s Michelle Obama, not her husband, who is emerging as the more sought-after campaigner in some places. Some Democrats say President Barack Obama’s sagging popularity limits where he would be helpful this election cycle. Mrs. Obama has higher approval ratings and brings a less-partisan pitch, and has hit the trail in Georgia, campaigning with Senate candidate Michelle Nunn. Next month Mrs. Obama will visit Iowa to campaign for Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley, who is running for Senate.

Climate control: President Obama is heading to a United Nations climate change summit Tuesday, seeking to lay groundwork for a global accord on greenhouse gas emissions. But the Hill reports he won’t be joined there by the leaders of either China or India, respectively the No. 1 and No. 3 emitters of greenhouse gases in the world. The White House says it isn’t concerned the Chinese and Indian leaders will be absent since the countries will be represented by high-ranking officials. The White House says Obama will call on global leaders to “step up to the plate and raise their level of ambition” when considering actions to tackle climate change.

Bigger buffer zone: The Secret Service is considering a larger buffer zone around the White House after an unprecedented security breach on Friday night. The Washington Post reports one proposal is to keep people off the sidewalks around the White House fence and create several yards of extra barrier around the compound’s perimeter. Another is to screen visitors as far as a block away from the entrance gates. On Friday, a man jumped over the White House fence just after 7:20 p.m. and sprinted unimpeded to the North Portico and entered the unlocked front door of the White House.

Your Congress (not) at work: The current Congress is on track to be one of the least productive in 60 years, in terms of laws passed and signed by the president. Roll Call reports the 113th Congress has seen just 163 pieces of legislation enacted. That is through August, and is more than 100 pieces of legislation below the measures enacted in the 112th Congress and well below the 111th. Roll Call says unless the 113th has an unprecedented burst of productivity when lawmakers return for the lame duck session following the midterm elections, the die is cast for the least-productive in 60 years.